Guide for digital health innovators to overcome barriers launched

A new guide for digital health innovators launched by Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) provides a comprehensive assessment of the English health system, pooling key stakeholder insights and signposting to further information for entrepreneurs to overcome barriers to the adoption of new technologies.

The guide features contributions from Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs), experts in digital and data and successful healthcare innovators and aims to optimise innovator opportunities and help them plot a clear pathway for digital health technologies to improve services and reach patients. The Innovator’s Guide aims to help build a sustainable healthcare fit for the future, set out in the government’s Life Science Industrial Strategy.

Guy Boersma, managing director of Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network said: “The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic highlights the critical role of digital technology in driving the transformation of health and care services – enabling professionals to stay connected with patients, supporting online services and giving people greater control over their own care. This is exactly why AHSNs were established and working in partnership we are making significant inroads into supporting the spread of transformative technologies: for example, over the past six months we have supported the national rollout of electronic repeat dispensing and access to video and online consultations in almost every GP practice. However, the health and care system is complex to navigate and so it is useful for innovators to have the advice, support and signposting they need, so we can match proven solutions to health challenges as quickly as possible. With this in mind we welcome the Guide, the knowledge it shares along with effective approaches and best practice within digital healthcare.”

An Innovator’s Guide to the NHS: Navigating the barriers to digital health, provides a holistic view of the digital landscape, providing an outline of the regulatory, access and reimbursement environments facing digital entrepreneurs today. Integrating digital in healthcare requires a technological and cultural transformation, with the guide highlighting the need to overcome the fragmentation between local and national access and reimbursement and the challenge of digitally upskilling a huge workforce.

As public reliance on technologies is at an all-time high due to the need for increased remote healthcare during the pandemic, the time is now for everyone involved in patient care to work together and overcome barriers to innovation. In December 2019, NHS Digital reported that just 15% of primary care appointments during the month had taken place by phone or online. By April 2020, this increased to 49%. Use of health innovations online has also increased in recent months, with Diabetes UK’s Know Your Risk tool showing a huge 637% increase in usage from end of July to the end of September, compared to the two months previously.

Supporting digital innovations is a government priority and organisations like DigitalHealth.London have been set up to help increase health entrepreneurs’ confidence in digital. The Digital Pioneer Fellowship, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, is championing 37 change makers employed by NHS organisations in London and the South East to design and lead digital transformation projects.

Uday Bose, Boehringer Ingelheim UK general manager said: “COVID-19 has forced us all to live differently and digital technology has been a key enabler of this. Without doubt it is the greatest driver of accelerating tomorrow’s healthcare improvements. It’s great to see the huge impetus behind digital innovation in the NHS and as a family owned, purpose led and innovation driven company we are committed to helping improve the health of people now and for future generations and digital transformation supports this ambition. The new Innovator’s Guide is a culmination of months of interviews and insight gathering from NHS stakeholders and tech innovators and we hope it will accelerate digital health adoption.”

The Innovators Guide can be downloaded here.